Cocktail Hacker

I’m exceedingly thankful that Prohibition was repealed. Let me reiterate. Thank you to the people who were level headed enough to get rid of this bit of legal weirdness. We all know about the major details of the time but there are also some really interesting details that are rarely discussed. For example, one nuance of the Volstead Act that I had no knowledge of was that it was perfectly legal during Prohibition to make up to 200 gallons of wine or cider per year in your home. Beer, however, was still a no-no. Or, how about this one. The use of “intoxicating beverages” was, in fact, not prohibited by the amendment. Thus, in the time between the passing of the act and when the law went in to effect you had a lot of people stocking up on liquor. From a guy who has a collection of over 100 bottles when there isn’t a prohibition in effect I see no issue in stocking up.

So, what brought on all this reading about Prohibition? The Twelve Mile Limit, this week’s cocktail. This is another one I found in Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. The recipe looks really tasty, but what really got me interested was the back story. Imagine you’re a rum runner during Prohibition. You’re bringing a load of rum up from the islands. How close can you get to the US coast before you have to start worrying about the revenuers? Well, if it’s early in prohibition, you can get to about 3 miles out and you’re good to go. Since it wasn’t illegal to own the hooch, only to sell it in the US, people could simply cruise out and pick up whatever they like for personal consumption. Well, not surprisingly, those in power didn’t much like this. So, they pushed the limit on territorial waters where Prohibition was concerned out to one hour’s “steaming distance”, generally 12 miles. This, clearly, made it a lot more difficult for those without serious boats to get out to the liquor sellers. As a result, the Twelve Mile Limit was concocted as a jab at the rule makers.

To add to the already good story, there is a bit more. The Twelve Mile Limit is based on another cocktail, listed as the Three Miller cocktail or Three Miler depending on where you look. There is definitely a link between the two though. The Three Miler and Twelve Mile Limit include the exact same ingredients, with a minor addition of some rye to the latter. While I’m going to focus on the Twelve Mile Limit this week, I am going to mix up the Three Miler just to taste the differences. So, now that you have the unique back story, let’s get started with the tasty part of this week.

Twelve Mile Limit (Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails)

1 oz White Rum

1/2 oz Rye Whiskey

1/2 oz Brandy

1/2 oz Grenadine

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1) Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice

2) Shake until combined and well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

And, it’s predecessor:

Three Miller (The Savoy Cocktail Book)

1 tsp Grenadine

1 Dash Lemon Juice

1/3 Bacardi Rum

2/3 Brandy



1) Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice

2) Shake until combined and well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

*Note: In case you’re wondering, the US territorial waters weren’t officially extended to 12 miles until long after the end of Prohibition. In fact, it wasn’t internationally recognized until President Reagan made the claim in 1988.

Ted Haigh questions the logic of naming this drink the Park Avenue in Vintage Cocktails and Forgotten Spirits. “Note, if you will, the tropical character, invoking Carmen Miranda strutting down a Palm Beach boulevard. As I say, the names of this and the Palm Beach Special preceding it, were obviously switched at birth.” Definitely on the mark. Although this drink holds a Gothamesque name, its flavor definitely is more reminiscent of the tropics. So, what is that flavor profile exactly? Complex, but still light and fruity. The pineapple is the dominant note in the aroma of the cocktail but isn’t as much the star in the flavor. In the flavor you’re first going to notice the flavors of the vermouth and hints of the gin coming through at the forefront. The pineapple and curacao round it all out really nicely.

Gin is the base spirit in this drink, and it’s important to pick the right one. I started, as I usually do, with Plymouth. I found the resulting cocktail to be very smooth, but lacking the level of gin in the flavor that I’d like. So, I decided to give a bolder gin a try next. Wanting to try a gin that’s more main stream and, quite frankly, a little less expensive, I decided to mix the next one with Gordon’s. Interestingly, I found that even with a bold gin the flavor didn’t come through as much as I expected. And, regarding this gin choice specifically, I found it a little funky. Not necessarily bad, but not quite what I’d like either. I also wanted to try another recipe I had found in the Difford’s Guide so I decided to continue the gin experimentation (ginsperimentation?) with that.

Park Avenue (Difford's Guide #8)

2 oz Gin

1 oz Pineapple Juice

1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth

1/2 oz Curacao

1) Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice

2) Shake until combined and well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

I wanted to keep with the bold gin plan so I pulled Tanqueray off the shelf for the first mix. Since the vermouth is decreased in this recipe, I expected it to be more of a background flavor. It really isn’t at all, though. You get the herbal notes and with the increased curacao you get a bit more orange flavor as well. Through it all the Tanqueray stood up great. This is definitely my favorite of the two recipes.

Finally, since this drink has strong tropical flavors I decided to try a gin that has more of a citrus forward flavor profile while maintaining the juniper as well. The clear choice to me was Beefeater. It’s a nice mix of juniper and citrus and works great in this recipe. While not as bold as Tanqueray this gin is still stands up great to the other strong flavors. Through all the tastings this week, Beefeater rose to the top as my gin of choice for this drink.

The Park Avenue, while a bit oddly named, is quite tasty. It has topical flavors but uses vermouth and gin. Definitely not a combination you’d immediately think would work well, but it definitely does. If you’re a gin lover and looking for something a bit different give it a go. Or, if you have a gin hater, this might be a fun place to get them started. Use a bit lighter gin and the other flavors will carry the weight.

I know you’ll find this deeply surprising but, I’m going with another gin cocktail this week. I’m picking another tasty looking tipple from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the Park Avenue Cocktail. Since the Negroni and the Americano I can’t think of any other combination of sweet vermouth and gin that I’ve undertaken. Although the sample size is small I think we can take the lead from these and say immediately that this drink won’t suck. So, get your ingredients together and we’ll venture to the glamor of 1940s New York.

Park Avenue Cocktail

2 oz Gin

3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth

3/4 oz Pineapple Juice

1/3 oz Orange Curacao

1) Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice

2) Shake until combined and well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Last week I got an invite to a virtual cocktail party being hosted Kara Newman, author of Spice & Ice, a cookbook centered on spicy cocktails, and the Spice & Ice Blog. You may remember Kara’s name from my post about the article in Chile Pepper Magazine. Turns out this virtual cocktail party shares the spicy cocktail theme. Naturally I had to be a part of that!

Kara sent over a list of cocktails to choose from and I picked the Blood Orange – Jalapeno Margarita. The flavor combination sounded really interesting and I love mixing with blood oranges. Their color is just so fantastic. Take a look at the photo below and I think you’ll agree.

Okay, now on to the more salient points about the flavor of the cocktail. Let’s start with the recipe.

Blood Orange-Jalapeno Margarita

2 oz Jalapeno-Infused Silver Tequila

1 1/2 oz Blood Orange Juice

1/2 oz Lime Juice

1 1/2 oz Cointreau

1) Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice

2) Shake until combined and well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Jalapeno-Infused Silver Tequila

8 oz (1 cup) Silver Tequila

1 Jalapeno, Sliced

1) Add the sliced jalapeno to the tequila

2) Cover and steep for 2 hours, 3 if you want extra spice

The first step in the creation of this drink is making the infusion. I picked out a regular sized jalapeno, maybe 3″ in length, and sliced it very thin, about 1/16th inch, and left the seeds and membrane intact. Slicing the jalapeno this thin meant I would get more surface area and thus more spice. Seeing as I really like my spice I opted for a full three hours of steeping in Milagro Silver. My patience was rewarded with a tequila that has a serious late burn to it. Tasty stuff, when used properly that is.

One more ingredient note about the blood oranges. I lucked out on this one since blood oranges are in season right now and available at my local grocery store. If you aren’t so lucky Kara offers a great alternative. Simply use 1 1/4 oz of orange juice and add 1/4 oz of pomegranate juice for color. The flavor of a blood orange really isn’t much different from a standard orange so I this will work out great.

Now that I had all my ducks in a row, I mixed up the drink and prepared for searing cocktail goodness. The resulting drink was seriously fiery. After the initial shock of the spiciness the sweetness of the orange juice and the Cointreau balanced it all out very nicely. In fact, when I was mixing the drink up I was a little concerned that the sweetness would be too much. It really turned out not to be the case at all. Subsequent sips found a reduction in the shock of the jalapeno and a nice balance overall. Even with the jalapeno heat you still taste the blood orange, the tequila and the cointreau.

Sourness was the only thing I found a little lacking in this drink. I think that is mostly due to my blood oranges being really sweet and not bringing any sourness of their own to the party. To remedy this I simply added about 1/4 oz more lime juice and all was well in the world.

Finally, if I were serving this drink to friends I would definitely do two things differently next time. I’d cut the jalapenos a bit chunkier and I’d steep them for a shorter time. For me, however, this was a perfect level of heat.

To summarize, the Blood Orange – Jalapeno Margarita is damn good. You can tailor it to fit your heat tolerance and I think it would pair really well with a nice salty snack or some good southwestern food. Well done, Kara. This is definitely a recipe I’ll be mixing up again.

I’ve explored the namesake libation of two of New York’s other boroughs but thus far I’ve given no love to Brooklyn. This week I’m going to make up for that. Flipping through Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails this drink stood out. When I came home from Tales of the Cocktail last summer one of the many samples I brought back was a bottle of Torani Amer. Truthfully I didn’t (and don’t) really know what it is or what the flavor is like. So, seeing that this drink calls for it I was immediately interested. It’ll give me the opportunity to not only experience a new cocktail, but also a whole new ingredient. Worry not. I’ll fill all of you in on the details.

The Brooklyn Cocktail (Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails)

2 oz Rye or Bourbon

3/4 oz Dry Vermouth

2 tsp Amer Picon (Torani Amer)

2 tsp Maraschino Liqueur

1) Stir in a mixing glass with ice

2) Strain into a cocktail glass

3) Garnish with a cocktail cherry

The Manhattan and Bronx cocktails, in case you need to get in to the New York named cocktail mood.